Bayard Rustin was born in West Chester, Penn., on March 17, 1912. His grandmother raised him in a Quaker community. Rustin first experienced racism on a school trip when a restaurant refused to serve him. In high school, he excelled at sports, academics and choir, singing with a strong tenor voice.
Rustin attended Wilberforce University, Cheney State Teachers College and the City College of New York. He became involved with the Young Communist League and helped organize the Congress of Racial Equality in the early 1940s.
Rustin was a follower of Mahatama Gandhi and a proponent of non-violent action to end segregation. In 1947, he organized the “Journey of Reconciliation,” which would be used as a model for the later Freedom Rides.
During the 1950s, Rustin became an integral founder of the civil rights movement along with A. Phillip Randolph, and he was a key advisor to Martin Luther King Jr., convincing him to fully embrace non-violent tactics. Rustin was the main organizer for the 1963 March on Washington.
Throughout his life, Rustin was openly gay, although this often relegated him to a behind-the-scenes position. His foes, chief among them Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms, denigrated his efforts because of his homosexuality and his early involvement with communism.
Nevertheless, Rustin spoke his mind thoughout his life and championed many causes, including anti-nuclear demonstrations, war resistance and the Free India movement. He was jailed more than 20 times for issues of conscience.
Rustin died of cardiac arrest on Aug. 24, 1987, in New York City.

— Michael J. Kleckner